Civilian
by SilentAnonymity
Summary: [Discontinued] We've only ever come in contact with the shinobi network of the village, but what about the civilian side? [Kakashi's ANBU years. Inspired by Zhang Sizheng's Deja Vu. As much as I hate to say it, KakaOC, not sure how I feel about this story yet, well, it's something to break my hiatus...]
1. Mission

**Civilian  
**

Written By: SilentAnonymity

Dedicated to Zhang Sizheng

Chapter 1: Mission

Chapter dedicated to you, for being patient with me during this really fricken' long and hiatus

* * *

Job interview at 2:30 today. Holy shiet.

So I'm back from this one year hiatus...possibly two...I don't remember when I last posted...No, wait. I posted sometime in January...well I haven't done anything interesting with Naruto for a while, and because I was rereading some of the stories I liked in the past, I decided to write this.

This one is inspired by **Zhang Sizheng**'s story, _Deja Vu_ which can be read here: /s/4478650/1/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0-Vu

There are a few lines taken _almost directly_ from the story from this chapter. I've used two characters from _Deja Vu_ and the lines that are taken, are italicized.

But wait! Is it? It IS! Holy crap! SA is writing a ROMANCE?! D: Yeah, I can't write romance for shiet. I tried a few times in the past. Either I never got close enough to the romance part, or someone/everyone dies. _Great writing skills, SA. -_-_

Also, this is a KakaOC story and while I hate OC romances, I couldn't help but attempt again ('cause reading can do that to a person). I'm not a fan of these kinds of romances because a lot of the time they're self-inserts and I'm never really interested in learning about a new character just so I can watch them romance with one of the better characters of a series (at least if the entire story revolves around that pairing, if it's jut a mention, it's not too much of a problem). It's also partially because I have an inexplicable deep-seated sexism within me, which is a cause of some childhood stuff that isn't really relevant to anything except the sexism...at least, not to any of you guys. SO, that being said, no, the female star of this is not a self insert, because while Kakashi is attractive as hell, if I had any relation to the characters that I love in this series (namely Kakashi and Itachi), they'd be my badass older brothers. I don't know, I just never feel the want for them to be my significant other, just the need for them to be my older siblings (whether it be adoptive or not).

TL;DR version: I can't write romances because angst is my dominant genre. I don't like reading OC romances because they're mostly self-inserts and because childhood has left me subconsciously sexist, but this story isn't a self insert (because the only relationship I want with fictional characters is adoptive sibling, not intimate).

There are a few things that are made up here, like the Land of Glass, or the enemies that they're pursuing. I'm still not sure how I feel about this story. I like it, but I also don't. We'll see.

**IMPORTANT: **I noticed that I screwed something up with the timeline while writing chapter 3. For the purposes of not changing an entire chapter of this fic, I am going to change the age at which Kakashi joins ANBU from 17 to 13. Thank you (more info in description of chapter 3).

Please enjoy!

* * *

Dust had settled noticeably on most surfaces of the little apartment, only disturbed by the footprints of the currently asleep ANBU. The absence of the ticking of an alarm clock only further accentuated the neglect and abuse of the poor room, its battery having run out long, long, ago and now sitting permanently at 0742. No matter, shinobi lived their lives with routine, and had the clock been working, it would have clicked exactly to 0600 when Hatake Kakashi rolled over and out of bed.

Left eye closed, he brushed his teeth, washed his face, the usual. Stripping off his bed clothes, which, if you were like any typical shinobi, were armed with hidden weapons, Kakashi stepped into the deliberately cold spray of his shower. After cleaning himself, he got out, dried, and pulled on a fresh set of the black shirt complete with a mask, pants, and the white-grey armour that came with it. Finishing his uniform, he donned the metal plated gloves, issued sandals, arm guards, tanto, and placed the porcelain Inu mask upon his face.

Silver hair still slightly damp, the cool morning air felt nice against the little bit of exposed skin that were his shoulders, he walked silently and invisibly through the slowly more lively streets of Konoha. His body still whined slightly from the strain of the last mission he went on…which was about six or seven hours ago. But he had more important things in his immediate attention, like the large A that was stamped on the top right corner of the mission paper he was looking at while standing in the Hokage's office. It's not that the Yondaime enjoyed working his ANBU to the bones with mission after mission, but because Kakashi felt some compelling, underlying need to constantly be working. Truthfully, he felt it preferable to drown himself in work to dull the pain, than it was to just mull over it while he was sitting in his room. Plus, it gave him a reason to talk to Minato sensei, even though there wasn't anything to talk about really.

"You should really take a break, Kakashi."

"I'll do this one, it's not even S ranked."

"I know what you're trying to do, but you're not going to get anywhere by losing yourself in bloodshed."

"Just stamp it and I'll be off," Kakashi replied, ignoring the concerned tone his sensei was giving him.

"Look, I'm not going to let you go on missions back to back like this."

"I'm not; I slept for six hours last night."

"That's hardly any different."

"Just let me go."

"You're going to wear yourself out, mentally and physically, despite how strong you are in both respects."

"I'm fine."

"You're not."

"Then let me cope with it the way I've always done."

"That's not going to help you, you're only going to cause more damage to…" he trailed off, suddenly realising what he had accidentally implied, that yes, it was because Kakashi worked so hard that everyone around him started dying. Because after all, wasn't it because of his drastic changes in personality that caused the death of both his father and Obito? No, he was wrong and saying anything that tried to justify his mistake would just make things worse. So instead of trying to correct his sudden, stress and concern caused mental slip, he stamped the mission paper and Kakashi left without a sound.

Solo mission, Kakashi preferred to work alone anyway. It was just some scroll retrieval task, nothing special really, except the importance of the scroll and it being a solo mission, probably why it was A ranked in the first place.

Eighteen hours later, the light taps of his feet on the floor of Minato's office caused the young Hokage to look up. Kakashi smelled faintly of iron, the deep red splotch seeped deep into the grey of his uniform. Left hand out, he produced the scroll and report he had written, and picked up a new mission paper with his right. An S was displayed prominently on the sheet.

"You're not going." Minato said after accepting the scroll and report.

Kakashi only stood in place, motionless and silent, holding the paper expectantly.

Minato sighed, "You need a team for this one anyway."

And as if on cue, ANBU Nezumi (mouse), and Saru (monkey) appeared next to him.

And because it would be undesirable to use personal relations to stop Kakashi from going on the mission, especially in the company of the other ANBU, Minato stamped the sheet with a resigned sigh. He hated Kakashi's lapses of emotional detachment, more than Kakashi's almost masochistic tendencies of pushing himself all the time, but he hated especially when they both happened simultaneously.

The mission itself was straightforward, capture (or preferably, kill, but the Yondaime wasn't one for using killing as the solution for everything) four nameless, but strong nonetheless, shinobi who were suspected infiltration nin from the Land of Birds and to retrieve the signet ring that they had stolen. S ranked because of the importance of the ring and the apparent abilities of the enemy. Well, the mission was supposed to be easy, at least for the class it was in.

Truth was, this was Kakashi's 9th mission back to back in the last two weeks, and regardless of experience or expertise, after that much constant mental and physical stress, there was absolutely no way someone's mental or physical being wouldn't slip, even a little.

Nezumi looked over at Inu questioningly when she noticed his subdued fatigue. Inu only replied with a silent nod, which she took to be a reply of "I'm fine," she tilted her head at him in concern. Kakashi had already acknowledged his tiredness, knowing that stamina wasn't his strongest area, which was why Saru was the captain of the mission.

As the mission progressed, they gathered more and more information about the nin. Wakana, Miyu: a yellow haired water user. Naoki, Youta: a short, dark-haired earth user. They were still in the dark about the other two, but they were making progress, which was always good…even though their revelations complicated the mission a bit.

For one thing, Miyu was an ex member of Kirigakure's Hunter-Nin, similar to Konoha's ANBU, but with different purposes. She was well versed in various Undertaker-Squad practices, and was probably lethal enough without chakra or weapons. Youta was a missing nin from Iwagakure and was responsible for the death of every one of the members of the Land of Glass, both civilian and ninja. Even while the strength of the ninja inhabitants there wasn't enough to chart, defeating the sheer number of people there, by himself, was impressive. Nezumi guessed that the four were taking refuge in the Land of Birds and wanted to gather information about various lands to sell to their enemy countries. It wouldn't be the first time ninja have done this. Still, it wasn't good to jump to conclusions yet.

It had been three days since Saru's team had located and monitored this group of nin. The four worked in a way that was different than most blackmail groups did. The group flawlessly intercepted messenger birds or other ninja groups; that was expected to a degree. There were variants though, like how they took on the form of abandoned children, or how they turned killing into a game.

Saru had come up with a plan that would be executed exactly after the group of nin attacked some unsuspecting shinobi from Takigakure.

"Alright, here's who we're dealing with," the light haired female said, as she drew in the dirt with a stick, "Same rules apply. 50% of the earnings to the one who kills the team captain, the other 50% will be equally divided between the underlings, but males are worth 20 ryo more than the females."

"Easy for you to say, taking my kills when they were halfway dead already. You're a damn cheater, Tsubame," the male with short, auburn hair said.

"Don't blame me for your lack of skill, ass."

"_Please_, how do you think you have the most winnings so far?"

"Shut up, Kenichi, and I would have gotten that fucker from the grass if you didn't block my way and then stab the guy, right Miyu?"

"You're just denying the fact that you didn't have enough chakra left to finish him off, Tsu_baka_me" the one called Miyu retorted.

"Now you're just being a child. Have some pride won't you?" replied Tsubame.

"Tch._ You're_ being a child."

"For the love of anything, shut the hell up, now, both of you. Kami, I swear, women are the most annoying things ever." Kenichi said exasperatedly.

"Fuck off."

"You're not even going to defend Miyu? I thought you _loved her_, Youta!" Kenichi was teasing the short, black haired man who was silent up until this point.

"Tch, there's no need to 'defend' Miyu from one dunce who can't even throw a kunai straight."

"You're a son of a bitch, did you know that?"

See, the ANBU group had waited three days because the thieves were tailing the Takigakure nin and were constantly moving. It wouldn't do to just jump in when the nin's guard was still up. No,it was more efficient to wait until the nin were tired and off guard before doing anything.

The fourth day dawned and the Takigakure nin came into view. Intercepted and defeated, but barely, the four rogue nins contemplated their winnings.

"Told you I'd get the captain."

"Yeah, fine, brag all you want, but I get _THIS ONE!_"

They'd been noticed. Four days. Not bad, the discovery was probably due to their proximity of the nin, which had become much closer, now that they had to capture/kill them. It wasn't really a matter though, for Saru's plan to work, the nin had to notice them anyway. Plus, the three ANBU had already split up.

Because majority of their enemy's chakra was already spent, it logically shouldn't have to be too much of a challenge.

"One measly ninja? Who the hell did they think we were?"

The first phase of the plan was to divert majority of the enemy's attention, using Nezumi as bait. She was good with fighting at a distance and her speed was formidable. It was better to have Inu and Saru join the fight midway. For one thing, the element of surprise and another, they had a better chance of thoroughly knocking out the nin anyway, they had more experience and were a little deadlier.

Phase two included the simultaneous debilitating attacks from both Inu and Saru, enough to knock out or kill the nin. Inu managed to kill one of them with his attack.

_"Damn it Miyu. Doesn't matter though, more money for us, anyway…"_

"_He killed Miyu, the bastard killed Miyu! I'll murder the fucking fuck! You can't be dead enough for killing Miyu!"_

"_Shit, shit, shit, man, get over it; you'll find another girl." Kenichi said, has he tightened his grip on his chakra blades._

An explosion of poisonous senbon was sufficiently dodged by the ANBU group, very few making contact with the three. The Kenichi guy managed to land a few blows, though not severe, but commendable for even making contact with them.

They were well into the fight and chances of success were pretty high.

What they didn't expect was their enemy's ability to use the Lava Release or Inu's sudden partial_ inability_ to use his sharingan. Fatigue had caught up, because nobody, not even the renowned Copy Ninja, could keep up with the _insane _workload that he had put on himself.

They had one down, phase three relied partially on Inu's ability to use genjutsu, but because that was out of the question, things started to go downhill.

It looked as if they were becoming more and more fucked.

Except that they were Leaf ANBU and there was no way in hell that they'd ever let that happen.

So somehow in the lifetime that was the three hours the fight went on for, Saru, Nezumi, and Inu had all four of the enemy nin down and out. They opted for capture seeing as it would be a stretch to kill (not to mention a waste) the remaining three rogues and if they did, it would only be of some convenient coincidence. Of course, it goes without saying that they sustained heavy damage, themselves. Nezumi was out, Saru was on the edge of consciousness, and Inu was worn down. They were covered in various wounds. Some severe, but none fatal.

Even though his two team members could have put the blame of their current state on Inu, they knew that this complete uncharacteristic and utter _fail_ of ability was, although his fault, a cause of something bigger, something that they knew they could probably respect. After all, they'd worked with the kid enough to know a fair amount of how_ he_ worked, and for him to suddenly (halfway) collapse like that, was something they were willing to overlook. It helped that no permanent damage was caused and that the mission was completed as well. Also they were ANBU, and ANBU don't hold grudges, not against usually useful members in any case.

Needless to say though, when Kakashi got back, Minato was _pissed._

The three ANBU stood tall and respectable in front of the Hokage, despite some obviously severe wounds that they had sustained. After dismissing the other two to the infirmary, locking up the three captured nin, and carefully storing the ring away safely, Minato shut the door to his office and cast a simple silencing jutsu to keep everything he was about to say from being overheard.

Because, it wasn't becoming of a Hokage to be openly swearing at his subordinates.

Minato's anger seemed to multiply a thousand-fold when he caught Kakashi's eyes straying towards to mission papers sitting on his desk.

"Sit." Kakashi recognised the tone in his sensei's voice. The calm before the storm. "And don't you _dare_ touch those papers."

Kakashi sat silently, fighting valiantly against the fatigue that would soon show itself very, very obviously.

"I know you well enough to know that even if I lecture you, your resolve isn't going to change. But I can tell you this; I don't _give a fucking shit_ if you have some of the best abilities in the entire country. I'm the Hokage and I will _fucking fire you_ and put you out of work until you come to your damn senses."

Kakashi thought it over for a moment, it didn't really matter to him. He didn't even know where he was going with any of this anymore anyway. Or it was just the fatigue.

Minato sighed, his expression softening as he watched a straight-backed Kakashi bleeding out onto his office floor.

"Go to the infirmary. Get checked out. If you come to me requesting for another mission in the next month, I will _personally _restrain you. Get rest, Kakashi." And there it was, the perfect level of concern, disappointment, and lack of intense anger that brought Kakashi back from his emotional detachment.

"Yeah…"

Minato seemed to have an afterthought. "Even though your mission was successful, I don't want you to do anything but rest for the next few weeks," or months, he thought, "So I'm confining you to the civilian side of Konoha. In effect as soon as you wake up tomorrow morning. I will make _sure_ of that."

Oh. Fuck.

After washing himself in the hospital, receiving the antidote for the poison, and then being bandaged up, Kakashi, tiredly made his way back through the streets of Konoha and into his little, neglected apartment. Once again disturbing the settled dust, he fell fast asleep on the stiff bed in the sadly empty house.

* * *

Review?


	2. The Centre

**Civilian  
**

Written By: SilentAnonymity

Dedicated to Zhang Sizheng

Chapter 2: The Centre

Chapter dedicated to Kukasabe Swift, for being an awesome reviewer.

* * *

**IMPORTANT: **I noticed that I screwed something up with the timeline while writing chapter 3. For the purposes of not changing an entire chapter of this fic, I am going to change the age at which Kakashi joins ANBU from 17 to 13. Thank you (more info in description of chapter 3).

From this point forward, there are no longer any excerpts taken directly from _Deja Vu_ except the name and two characteristics of Kakashi's OC love interest.

And henceforth, the civilian side of Konoha shall be referred to as the, "Civilian Centre," or simply, "Centre," and its shinobi counterpart will be referred to as the, "Shinobi Complex," or simply, "Complex."

Three things I made up:

1. Obviously some company names and such  
2. Teuchi (the man who runs Ichiraku- YES HIS NAME IS NOT ICHIRAKU, GOODNESS!), does not actually have a Chunin son.  
3. Some facts on Ninken.

Also, cosmetics were used on some of the characters in this chapter. The cosmetics I am talking about aren't the ones we see packaged today, the kind we "modern" people use. I'm talking about cosmetics from before. When blush and lipstick were the same product and came as a red sheet of paper (and not in a tube or a compact) and eyeliner was still kohl.

And now, chapter two, please enjoy.

* * *

Kakashi awoke with a start at the large thud that had come from somewhere outside of his apartment. Picking up the kunai from the gap between his bed and the table, he cautiously made his way toward the front door. He pressed his ear against it, and when he met nothing but silence, deemed it safe enough to open. There was a large box with a note stuck to the top. Recognising his sensei's half lying-down scrawl, Kakashi brought the parcel inside.

_So you're up!_

_Now get the hell to the border. I've packaged some things that would probably help.  
I'll send someone to get you when I feel that you've spent enough time away._

_Don't do anything stupid,_

_Sensei_

There was a little doodle of a pug in the corner of the page that was scratched out. Kakashi glanced up at the clock; the note seemed forcibly cheerful, with a slight tone of annoyance and an edge of warning. It was nearing 0600. He opened the box. Inside were civilian clothes, a key card, and a small amount of civilian currency. After showering and changing, he gathered some of the few personal belongings that still resided in his apartment. Placing them in a backpack that he had received from Rin on a day a few years back, he slung the bag over his shoulder and headed out the door.

Between the Civilian Centre and the outskirts of the Shinobi Complex, there was a moderately guarded border with two gates.

Kakashi had really only been in the Civilian Centre once in the past and it was with the rest of Squad 7 on an escort mission of some kind- he didn't really care to remember. He hadn't really paid much attention because he didn't spend much time there. Now, he was to forcibly spend at least three weeks in there, probably more. The war had ended a few years ago and peace was settling down again. Everyone had a little more down time and it was no longer necessary to have each and every member of Konoha working to the bone.

Generally speaking, Kakashi knew the roles that the civilians played in Konoha. Civilians were in charge of the production of materials and products that a shinobi village needed. For example, _Nuno_ was a company that manufactured fabrics, both for ninja wear and for pedestrian wear. _Toujiki_ produced porcelain and fine china. They were also the company that developed the porcelain for ANBU masks. And so forth. Things made in the Centre were often useful trade items as well.

Although most civilians lived in the Centre, those who had ties with the shinobi system could opt to live within the Complex, instead. Teuchi, for example, had a son who was a Chunin, in addition to his civilian daughter, Ayame. Those who didn't pursue the shinobi career lived their lives within the Centre and grew up to join companies and become innovators and such.

Like shinobi, all civilians attended the same academy, the civilian one being in the Centre, obviously; though the age at which they enter and the curriculums were entirely different. Yes, civilians had arithmetic classes, and language classes, but their courses lacked the few chapters that taught them how to use their calculations to throw a kunai into strong winds, or they never really did get to the (seemingly nonexistent- at least to them) section about coding and decoding messages, for example. Also, unlike the habit that shinobi had of enrolling their children in the academy from the age they could coherently form sentences, all civilians attended their first year of their academy at the age of 5; which could have been a respectable feat, if the first three years of classes had not been kindergarten (and then a slowly developing curriculum that took another 8 years and looked like a snail compared to the lightning speed and complexity of the ninja courses).

Of course, civilians could change their dream careers to shinobi, but then, the change would be permanent. It was either pursue your goal of being a ninja and retire as a veteran, or not begin at all. It would be dangerous if a pedestrian-half-ninja were to be captured and some important information leaked out. Though the prospect of little half-ninja children running around the Centre casting jutsu everywhere was an amusing thought, there was a chakra suppressing barrier around the Centre anyway- to protect the pedestrians a little from the rare event where some hot-headed genin decided to use some jutsu on them, while on a mission; it was also a sort of peace-pact that kept the civilians comfortable with working with the shinobi.

Kakashi sighed as he made his way toward the east gate.

"Ohayo."

"Morning to you too."

There was also a strict, no weapons policy.

After being inspected for anything suspicious, and safely on the other side of the gate, Kakashi stopped to recognise the odd and unnerving feeling that had settled into him ever since he put on the civilian clothes. He felt vulnerable with the suppressed chakra and without his usual hidden weapons. He tugged awkwardly at the hem of his black t-shirt, very aware of the absence of the garrotte wire he would have usually sewn into it. At least the shirt was black.

Shifting the grey pack a little higher on his one shoulder (that was one thing he remembered seeing on his previous visit because he wondered why anyone would do something so utterly inconvenient, there were two straps on a bag for a reason, right?), he opted for looking for his new apartment first.

The roads were easily navigable, organised in precise grids. Kakashi could tell that the difference in the reliance of chakra had caused the Centre to develop differently than the Complex. Where chakra usually held its weight in the Complex, the civilians had substituted it with electricity. Ninja used electricity, but only sparingly, like with the short range radio earpieces. The general consensus was that the abilities of electronics were too inconsistently unreliable: too many chances of being intercepted, or disabled, or breaking. That, or it was just unnecessary. Civilians had designed a self powering carriage, once, called a car. It was supposed to create an efficient method of transportation. Too bad Ninja could run as fast as cars, and the narrow streets of the Centre weren't fit for such a creation, and the roads would have to be paved, and safety regulations, and a slew of other complicated formalities that would cause more trouble than the car saved. Plus, exercise was _good_ for you.

Kakashi did appreciate the elevator though, thoughtful invention, especially when an elderly woman entered the tiny cubicle and raised a shaky, arthritis affected hand to press the number 8. He stepped out when the door slid open, revealing the third floor and used his key card to open his temporary apartment's door.

The apartment was small, brown, empty, and neglected, just like his real one.

It was strange to look at himself in his current attire in the full-length mirror that was attached to the back of the washroom door. It actually made him jump a little when he saw a moving figure, but only because he'd been on edge from being so exposed. He contemplated his look. He didn't exactly like it, but he found it preferable than what it could have been.

At least it wasn't Gai who had chosen his outfit.

He had been allowed to keep his mask, but his headband had been replaced by just a slip of black fabric. Openly wearing headbands made some civilians uncomfortable and there was no need for a visiting shinobi to be boasting his abilities. He wore a black t-shirt and dark grey pants. Standard issue sandals were on his feet though. His hair fell slightly more forward than usual without the stiffness of the headband. The bandages that concealed the wound on his leg were covered well enough by the bagginess of the pants- something he didn't particularly like, but it was effective enough. The gauze on his arm was displayed very blatantly, but other than that and the various cuts and bruises he had, he looked almost normal.

Almost.

Well, he was occupied for the first day.

He ended up in the bedroom, where he just collapsed and slept for what felt like three days. Or it was half a day, when he woke up it was morning again; 0716, later than usual, but he was still trying to overcome the nightmarish tiredness that had plagued him for the week previous.

Kakashi pondered just what he would do with his time. After his various hygienic practices, Kakashi left his apartment.

He bought an apple from a fruit stand that stood at the side of the street, its neighbouring carts still empty. The Centre was a lot quieter than the Complex was in the morning, but this was just an obvious difference in the lifestyles of pedestrians and shinobi. One was strict to routine and one was varying on _emotions_ and if I _feel_ like it.

He realised that it would be a lot harder eating in the Centre. For one thing, he couldn't cast a genjutsu that would make it appear as if his mask were still in place while he was eating, and he would have to _hide_ to eat. Kakashi tossed the apple into his bag; he would search for an opportunity to eat it later. He had gone many a days without eating before, so eating breakfast late wasn't going to kill him.

He wandered aimlessly through the Centre and as the sun made its way steadily across the sky, so did the flow of people into the streets. Shops opened, the sounds of people rose, and children bade goodbye to their parents as they ran through the streets. It reminded him faintly of the streets in the Complex, but just faintly. He also seemed to notice a few eyes that followed him and his highly trained ears picked up the whispering and giggling after that. Well, so much for looking almost normal.

He ignored them and walked into a tall, antique looking building, which turned out to be a library. That didn't bother him, Kakashi enjoyed reading. He was browsing the fiction section when he saw the title _Thrilling Tales of a Ninja_ on the spine of a book. He picked up the dark green book and skimmed through it. The details were terribly inaccurate and the storyline was absolutely horrific. Kakashi placed the book back on the shelf and wrinkled his nose in discontent. He steered clear of the fiction section, opting for the safer, more-accurate, non-fiction books.

He was seated in the chair at the farthest corner, away from anyone else, taking in the details of growing plants. He never really properly grown a plant before, even the cactus someone decided to send him died of dehydration because he was never in his apartment; and when he was, he was too tired to remember to water it. He was going to start on a book about civilian dogs, when the giggling and whispers grew obnoxiously loud.

So he picked up his books and used his key card to sign them out.

On his way out of the library and toward the park, one of the whispering voices approached him, though this time, it wasn't whispering.

"_So_, are you like a ninja or something?" the girl said, twisting her finger in her hair, in a way where she probably thought looked attractive. Her friends hung a little further back behind her.

"Yes." Kakashi replied flatly. He took in her appearance. She had light brown eyes, enlarged multiple times by various strokes of eyeliner. Her eyelids were painted a bright blue and her lips were a shocking pink. She looked to be about 12 or 13, just about the same age as him. Her friends were no different.

"I _thought_ so." She declared, sounding accomplished. Kakashi wondered idly if it was really that much of a feat to discern a ninja from a pedestrian; especially one with a band tied oddly over his eye, and visible damage to his physical being.

"What happened to your eye?" One of her friends piped up from behind her. Her appearance was no improvement from the first girl; he could see the two very pronounced red blotches on her cheeks, but at least her voice was free from the forced, high-pitched, sugar coated accent the first one had.

"War happened." He said simply. He was a little annoyed, he hadn't had girls approach him like this since his years in the academy, and back then, even they were less superficial.

"Wait, so, you fought in the war and you're missing an eye?" Another asked confusedly.

"Yes, and yes and no."

His answer only seemed to confuse her more. He didn't understand why the girls had such a strange reaction to him. It wasn't like it was the first time there was a ninja in the Centre. It happened quite often actually.

"Well, _duh_ Miu! Honestly, I can't even imagine how you're ever going to become a medic with _your _level of intelligence. _I'm_ going to be an _actress_!" She said dramatically, sighing out the word actress whilst folding herself slightly to push out her chest and her lower back, raising her arm to her forehead.

_And it was at that moment that he took one look at her and felt like his heart had stopped, mesmerised by the glorious beauty that was standing before him. He had fallen head over heels in love with a girl he had only just met. This was love at first sight. He knew it was a mutual feeling and he leaned forward to kiss her…_

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. That was probably what she was thinking at the moment, pulling a stunt like that. He was thinking of something different though, at it didn't involve three hormonal children, but it did, however, include some time alone to read.

"If you keep doing that, you're only going to end up damaging the thoracic nerves in your spine and subsequently impeding your movement from the moment you turn 20 and onward until death," he said, deadpanned.

The girls looked a little surprised and confused at the same time.

The brown-eyed girl blinked, recovered, and then spoke again, "How old are you?"

"13."

"Well, you're no fun! You're just a kid!"

Kakashi pondered this for a moment. "Actually, no, I'm not. I'm employed. I'll be reaching the average life expectancy of a shinobi within the next decade. I'm quite old, actually."

For a second, Kakashi thought that there might have been a spark of intelligence in the child, when she said, "Well, age isn't measured by how much life you _think _you have left; it's how long you've been living!" She said defensively, and then added, "You need to have some fun! You have a job already, right? Why are you still acting like you have anything to worry about?! Your life is set!"

_And_ out went the spark.

Kakashi didn't even know why he bothered.

"Who better to have fun with than three _fun-loving_ girls?" offered the girl who was apparently named Miu.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, even though they could only see one. He didn't really want to stand in the middle of the road being badgered by the three girls anymore, so he gave up and simply said "I'm sure you're all _wonderful_ people, but unless your idea of fun is letting me read my book _alone _in the park, I'll have to politely decline. Thank you."

Then he walked around their stunned faces toward the park.

There was a discreet whisper from behind "I _told_ you we should try harder. He doesn't think we're attractive enough. That's why he's being so mean!"

"Well it's hard to be attractive enough for a guy like him and it doesn't matter if he's mean, if we get him, we'll be the most popular people, _ever_," sounded a whispered hiss.

He briefly wondered if it were possible to be _that_ shallow.

The park was a wide expanse of grass, with a stone path, and some benches. Trees were planted methodically around the perimeter of everything. Kakashi decided on a tree with thick foliage and a wide branch. Settling himself on the strong limb, he hid in the leaves and ate the apple. Then, he opened the book on dogs. It was quite an enjoyable read actually, apparently ninken were different from regular dogs because they were raised in active chakra environments and therefore developed heightened senses. And there was a little spot, just below the ear, but above the neck that, when scratched, was supposed to signify approval or praise. He'd have to try that with Pakkun, just to verify its validity.

"You're in my spot, y'know?"

Kakashi looked up from his book to see a yellow-haired girl swinging upside down from a branch above him. Her face was in a mock-pout and her arms were crossed. Her eyes were a shade of dark onyx, the same shade as his, but this combination of features (the yellow hair and black eyes), was a very uncommon one. _Here we go again_.

And he had barely just gotten rid of the first three fangirls too.

* * *

Review?


End file.
